“Talk to Dr. Dutton anyway. She may have some suggestions. I'll talk to you later. Fritz, we're trying to coordinate with Interpol and the airlines. We're using the Hay-Adams video and the composites from Ingram and Trellingham to see if we can find Richter. Talk to you later.”
Fritz turned into Ashley's street and eased to a stop. Ashley's car was gone.
Chapter 47
IN FRONT of his house, a black Suburban idled. He walked in the back door and called.
“I'm up here, Fritz.” Mary said she had stopped back to pick up the last of her things and drop off the key. She had been reassigned back to Washington. “Other agents will be watching and checking in with you from time to time. The president wants you covered, but not too obviously, so you may not know when they're around.”
“Thanks for all you've done, Mary. Good luck. Come back and visit.” She kissed his cheek, said goodbye, and walked to the waiting car. He watched the car until it turned at the end of the street and closed the door. The click of the latch rattled in his head.
At his desk, his yellow pads were a reminder of what had become of his life. Linda and TJ were gone, and Linda hadn't returned any of his calls. Ashley had vanished to somewhere unknown. Now Mary had left.
Thomas Richter was at large.
Chapter 48
“AH. WELCOME BACK, Monsieur Richemartel,” said the maître d'. “Would you like your usual table?”
“I would prefer a quiet corner, perhaps in the rear today.”
Pointing in the doorway, the tuxedoed guide said, “How about one of those?”
“That would be fine, Paul. Thank you. A dry martini will do nicely. Then, no further disturbance, s'il vous plait.”
His patrician arrogance posed no difficulty for the equally haughty defender of the best that money could buy. “Of course, monsieur.” A fifty dollar bill went in his pocket. He enjoyed this guest who always appreciated service. Paul escorted his patron to the dim rear. Pictures adorned the walls, writers and artists reputed to have been regulars in the years after the First World War. No one could prove otherwise. The Nazis had ended the fun.
Telesphore Richemartel removed a small pad from his satchel and withdrew a gilded pen from his jacket. The perfect fit of his father's Montblanc added to his aura. He shrugged at the strange thought that a pen could be so impressive.
On the pad, he listed initials. From the inside left pocket of his suit coat, he pulled out his plane ticket. He would arrive at Washington-Dulles at eight that night.
A Last Request
If you've read this far, I hope you enjoyed the journey. My relationship with Fritz and Linda, Ashley and Jane, the president and all the rest has become a family event for me, and I hope for you too. I would ask a favor. Reviews are important to the success of a story. By giving your opinion, you inform other potential readers what good and bad you've experienced. Please let me know, and let the world know what you think on Amazon, Goodreads, or any literary site where people can visit.
If you would like to contact me, or if you have questions about the story, about writing or about me, please check the sites below:
Email – [email protected]
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/michael.r.stern.5
Twitter – https://twitter.com/sternmike52
Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Michael-R.-Stern/e/B008OP4DVU
Sneak Peek
Storm Surge,
Book Five of the Quantum Touch series.
Chapter 1
After Midnight, Thursday, August 25
“Jim? Florian Declercq here. Sorry to call so late. Have you a moment?”
“No problem, Florian. Just sitting and reading.” The general clicked mute on the TV. “What can I do for you?”
“Jim, I've received an invitation to join a group of businessmen. You were my first thought. A man came to my office in Antwerp, saying he represented someone whose interest was stirred by my company's participation in the president's development plan.” General Beech listened with a pen in his hand, a yellow pad on his lap. “When I asked about the group's purpose, he referred to them as 'the Caballeros.' ”
The pad flew from his lap and smacked the floor. “Florian, may I call you from my office? In say, an hour?”
* * *
THE PHONE BUZZED in the residence. The White House operator told the president that General Beech was holding. Sitting up and turning on the bedside lamp, he said, “What's happened, Jim?” The general reported his conversation with the Belgian shipping magnate. When he heard “the Caballeros,” he stood up. “General, where are you now?”
“At my office, Mr. President. I wanted the call recorded and secure.”
“Give me a half hour.”
Chapter 2
After A Long and lonely summer, Fritz Russell had spent another day preparing for the new school year, only a couple of weeks away. As he reached for the front porch light switch, the doorbell chimed. The outside light threw shadows in its forty-watt beam. Shoulder length hair and a full, unkempt beard stared in at him.
“Good to see you, Ash.” He held the screen door open. Not sure what to expect after two months, Fritz reserved his joy.
“I saw the light on. Then I saw the family room light go off.” Ashley remained motionless on the porch. “I know it's late.”
“Not like I have anywhere to go. Come on in.”
Ashley downed a first glass of soda and poured another. Across the kitchen table, Fritz waited to hear a story, of where Ashley had been, what he had done. But mostly, he wanted to know what had happened that day in Palestine, two months earlier. Ashley hadn't answered his calls or returned his messages.
“Ash, first thing. You need to call your folks. They're worried. Your mother calls me every few days to see if I've heard from you.”
“I guess you want to know where I've been.”
“I want to know whatever you want to tell me. It's been a long summer, and I have a few things to tell you too.” He studied his disheveled friend. So prominent only an eye-blink ago, the joyful gleam in his eyes was gone. Before he could say another word, his phone rang. “Who can that be at this hour?” Fritz ran to the family room, switched on the light he had just turned off, hurried to the sunroom, and grabbed the phone just before it switched to voicemail.
“Hello?” he panted.
“Sorry Fritz. Hope I didn't wake you.”
“Hi Mr. President. You didn't, but I had to find my phone. Things are a little less orderly since Linda left. What's up?”
The president said he needed the portal. Tony Almeida was on the way. When he said that there might be a break on the Caballeros, Fritz said, “I'll be there in twenty minutes.” Returning to the kitchen, he told Ashley what the president had said.
Setting his glass on the table, Ashley asked, “Can I stay here? I'm not sure I want to see him yet.”
“Ash, it wasn't his fault. It was mine. You should see him and then you'll know how you really feel.”
“I know what you're saying and you're probably right, but not now. Not yet.”
ON HIS WAY to Riverboro High School, following the same route he had driven for the past decade, Fritz reflected on the portal. Since he had discovered that he could time travel, his entire life had changed. The Naria mission had created a pattern. Quiet, then action, then quiet again. It couldn't have been quieter, then Ashley shows up and the president calls. He tried not to hope that the next thing would be Linda coming home.
Also by the Author
Book One of the Quantum Touch Series
Storm Portal
Time travel is real, of that, Fritz Russell was certain. He'd just done it. Meeting Robert E. Lee was fascinating, but witnessing the Triangle Fire with his class was scary. His job was to teach, not participate in, events long past. His classroom door had become a portal to the past and a tunnel through the present. How did it happen? Can he control it? Is he changing history? When he walked into the Oval Office, he had n
o idea how his life would change.
With his wife and his friends, Fritz investigates the mysteries of time travel and the power of the portal, while the nation's security apparatus gears up.
Can they find the answers in time?
Book Two of the Quantum Touch Series
Sand Storm
How do you say no to the President of the United States when he's asked you to stop a nuclear war?
After Fritz Russell discovered his classroom door was a portal through space and time, he helped the United States resolve a foreign policy emergency. Now the president wants him to use the portal to avert the threat coming from a Middle Eastern nation that is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.
For a history teacher, travel to the past is entertaining, enlightening, and a great way to engage students. But Fritz hasn't learned all the portal's secrets. Could others put the world in danger by forcing him to use what he doesn't even understand? If he uses it to help the president, there might be a war. But if he says no, he will be permitting his family, friends, and the world to remain in great danger.
Should Fritz agree to be the heart of the U.S. operation? And if he does, is there enough time for him to learn all he needs to know about the mysteries of the portal?
Book Three of the Quantum Touch Series
Shadow Storm
Will evil prevail? Can the portal “Give Peace a Chance?”
What will Fritz Russell have to confront next? And where? After he opened the portal into the Oval Office and became friends with the man who works there, Fritz reluctantly agreed to help the president make the world a safer place. He saved hostages, helped prevent a nuclear war, and began a life of excitement and danger he never saw coming.
Now an ominous shadow has been cast by a hidden enemy prepared to use violence to upend world affairs. The president has only a year left in office, and every disruption fuels his concern. As violence escalates and Fritz himself becomes a target, the portal may be the only way he and the president can end the growing danger and bring peace to the globe.
But the voice in the shadows believes they cannot thwart his plan. “Uncertainty breeds fear,” he says. “Fear wins elections. Scared people don't want more of what makes them afraid.”
SHADOW STORM plunges Fritz into the portal's mysteries and dangers.
Reflections on a Generous Generation
Reflections on a Generous Generation tells the story of a generation of Americans who created the richest, most powerful and most successful nation in world history, as seen through the life of a remarkable man. A soldier, businessman, student, teacher, inventor, world traveler, volunteer, Murray Stern was truly a participant in the world in which he lived.
If you appreciate history or teach history, if you know someone who lived through the Depression and World War II, this remarkable story shares the life and times of those who lived the journey.
Storm Unleashed Page 31
